Madrid/The 11J prisoner Yosvany Rosell García Caso accepted for the first time, after 40 days of fasting, to ingest a hydration serum, as confirmed by his wife Mailín Rodríguez Sánchez on social networks. His state of health, however, remains “critical,” denounces the family, who at least have had good news. The opponent’s three children were able to visit him at the Lucía Iñíguez Landín Clinical Surgical Hospital, in Holguín, where he is admitted to the intermediate therapy unit due to possible multiple organ failure.
The visit was described by his wife as “very sad but encouraging,” although she did not explain whether it occurred before or after he agreed to be hydrated with serum. It was the first time he had seen the three minors in two months and, at least – says Sánchez – they were able to hug him without handcuffs and chains.
In the latest reports it has emerged that Rosell continue with low blood pressure and the risks derived from his decision to go without food: kidney problems and the risk of suffering cardiorespiratory arrest.
The opponent’s three children were able to visit him at the Lucía Iñíguez Landín Clinical Surgical Hospital, in Holguín, where he is admitted.
Yesterday, when 40 days had passed since the start of the strike, some 200 activists, intellectuals and dissidents sent a letter to Pope Leo XIV to request his “intercession” in support of the political prisoner.
“We humbly cry out for your spiritual accompaniment and human intercession in the face of the real danger of death that a son of Cuba faces today,” said the letter, signed, among others, by professor Alina Bárbara López, artist Tania Bruguera, activist Carolina Barrero, opposition member Dagoberto Valdéz and filmmakers Juan Pin Vilar and Fernando Pérez.
The letter explicitly demands that the head of the Catholic Church ask the regime to grant him an “extra-penal license” that, given the “extreme deterioration of his health,” allows him to leave prison. In addition, he adds that Rosell is in a serious situation of “physical fragility” and “at extreme risk of dying or suffering irreversible consequences, even if he survived.”
The text asks that “the Holy See can exercise a mediation role in favor of the life of Yosvany”, sentenced to 15 years in prison for participating in the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021 and of which he has served four years. “His health has seriously deteriorated as a result of his imprisonment and several hunger strikes, which are his last and desperate resource for dignity in the face of the injustice of this situation,” they explain.
The playwright Yunior García Aguilera, the journalists Luz Escobar and José Luis Tan Estrada, the intellectual Jorge Fernández Era, the academic Jenny Pantoja, the film director Carlos Lechuga, the independent journalist Camila Acosta and the activist Anamely Ramos, have also joined the letter.
“The doctors tell the family that he is still conscious and that he does not want to end the strike, but he is in very bad condition and, on the other hand, the Cuban Government is evidently waiting to see if he abandons the strike, but does not seem to give in to the demand for his release. He is asking for his freedom. He is in existential conditions that, obviously, make it preferable for him to die than to be in prison,” they add.
Furthermore, this Tuesday it emerged that the musician José Maria Vitier, one of the most international Cuban composers for his Oscar nomination for the soundtrack of Strawberry and chocolatehas written a plea in favor of Rosell on his social networks. “I don’t know him, I don’t know what terrible crime he committed to deserve 15 years in prison, I don’t know what his ideas are. I only know that he seems determined to let himself die for them,” explains the artist, who asks for “respect and immediate attention in the instances that are responsible for doing everything possible to prevent it” and not looking the other way. “Hopefully it is not too late and a fatal outcome can be avoided,” he asked in a message shared and supported by Cuban economist Pedro Monreal.
“I don’t know him, I don’t know what terrible crime he committed to deserve 15 years in prison, I don’t know what his ideas are. I only know that he seems determined to let himself die for them”
The official press published an extensive statement by the Cuban Warrior approximately a week ago in which it was stated that Rosell is being used by “the Miami mafia,” who are determined to let him die. “They need to repeat the history of [Orlando] Zapata.”
In this context, the imprisoned artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara announced a voluntary fast from the Guanajay prison, in Artemisa, where he has been held since 2021. “On the eve of his birthday, December 10, which is Human Rights Day, and demanding his freedom and the freedom of all political prisoners,” said art curator Yanelis Núñez after speaking with him.
Otero Alcántara, sentenced to five years in prison for the crimes of insulting the symbols of the country, contempt and public disorder, will expire his sentence in the coming months. “He has never resigned himself to being in prison,” added Núñez, who stated that the decision has been made to “raise awareness about his situation, to say that he is still strong, that he demands his freedom and that of all the prisoners.”
